20110429

I received a parcel in the mail from New Zealand -- this is always a good thing, because they're usually from either Karen Walker, Stolen Girlfriends Club, or Lotte Burkhart, the woman behind Little Sister Designs. Lotte was extremely generous and sent me these 3 stunning pieces from her new collection. I am never, ever disappointed with L.S.D. Ms. Burkhart uses only the finest of materials (the ring is HEAVY solid sterling) and I love the way she oxidizes her pieces. I got tons of compliments on the jewelry yesterday when I attended the Ivan Grundahl a/w '11 trunk show at Joan Shepp. That is where I picked up these gorgeous Balenciaga boots, along with a few other goodies. Very, very happy b-day to me!

I adore these boots. They're so un-sexy (Bobby hates them), but so very, very me. These are probably the most heavy-duty pair of boots I own. I love the shape of the buckles, the placement of the negative space, the Doc-inspired stitching at the sole ... perfection! I'll be getting a lotttt of wear out of these.

I want to thank NYLON Japan for giving me a blogger award in their current issue; I am so pleased! If someone has a scan of the photo and interview of me from that issue, I would be eternally grateful to you for sending it to me at hal.e.liebling@gmail.com.

The Käärme website is now up, you will all get a look at the summer collection in about 3 weeks, and the pieces will be available for sale shortly after that. Finally! I can't tell you how happy I am with this collection. Considering it is my first, I think it's pretty fucking awesome. Sick, wicked, twisted, and dark. I just love it. But of course, I'm totally biased. So, see for yourself in May :)

Posts have been sporadic for two reasons: 1) Bobby, my default photographer, is on tour in Europe. "Last Rites" dropped on Tuesday -- hooray! You can grab a copy here. 2) All of my time has been consumed by Käärme. But that is okay, because the pieces are looking awesome.

How amazing is the baphomet ring by Actual Pain? The new collection, Icons of a New Mythology, is sick -- how could I resist this jacket? And a few other warm-weather "basics," of course ...

Here is a photo of me & my husband from the latest issue of SPIN magazine:

It was so great working with SPIN and I'd like to thank David Marchese for the copious amounts of time he devoted to traveling & research in order to write this article, the SPIN photo crew, and all of the designers (Straight to Hell, UNIF, Angela Monaco, Actual Pain, Adelina Mictlan, and Blood Milk) who helped style the shoot. You can read the article here.

The Defector jacket, like the Offender jacket I wore several posts back, is made of the same supple, pebbly buffalo leather, has Straight to Hell's signature red lining and stamped bottle opener zipper pulls. It differs from the the Offender, however, which is more of a cafe racer style moto jacket, with the half-collar that snaps at the neck. The Defector is a true-to-itself, no bullshit traditional British-style moto jacket, which I generally prefer because they're so versatile.

Once again, I am stunned by the quality of the garment all around. All zippers and snaps are fully functional, which is great because the collar can be popped up or snapped down. The Defector also has both a zippered sleeve pocket and an inner breast pocket, which I love (cell phone in the breast pocket, cash in the sleeve, and I'm out the door). The leather wears in very quickly -- after about a week of wearing it for a few hours every day, it breaks in just the right places. My husband has two Defectors: one black with red trim (which he wore in this month's Decibel magazine), and the other a very sleek, almost electric blue. The rich brick color of my own is outstanding ... while black is always a good option, this color goes with nearly everything in my wardrobe. The sunny, breezy weather in Philly today was perfect occasion to snap some proper photos of this beauty.

How great is this huge marbleized jasper ring? Bobby and I both got ourselves one from this neat shop on etsy called Hard Candy Gems. This girl has virtually every color scheme of every [massive] non-precious stone under the sun, and they're VERY reasonably priced. Granted she does use sterling wire, but the way she sets the stones is pretty remarkable. She even has a policy that if your stone falls out, she'll replace the ring for free. I'll definitely be needing more of these. I was recently re-united with what is probably one of my favorite rings of all-time, my vintage sterling/onyx rosary ring, which was hiding under our bed frame for months. I just adore this ring for some reason, and I'm thinking about re-creating it (with a little bit of a demeted twist) for the Käärme pre-fall jewelry colletion.

Speaking of which, inventory has started coming in for Käärme, we're putting the finishing touches on some other pieces, and our lookbook should be online next month, along with the first pieces of Neo-Natal D.O.P.E. (s/s '11) available for purchase. While we continue working on kaarmeconcepts.com, please feel free to "like" us on myspace and follow our twitter to stay updated.

No sneak-peaks of RTW or accessories yet, that's top secret for now ... but I promise, it's exactly everything Rocky Dennis would wear on his date with that blind chick.